Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi: The first glimmers of fraud

The diamantaire's implication in his nephew's defrauding of PNB is well documented. Less well known is the sharp practices he employed in his Indian businesses long before this global scandal erupted

Despite recent developments that have accelerated the impending extradition of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, who has been in custody in London’s Wandsworth Prison for over two years, the last month has seen his uncle Mehul Choksi dominate the headlines instead with his circus-like exhibition in the Caribbean that has involved red herrings such as a “girlfriend”, to whom his wife seemed to have no objection, and possibly concocted stories of being kidnapped and manhandled.

Choksi was widely regarded as Modi’s Svengali in Mumbai when he returned from Belgium to expand his business. He had fled to Antigua well before news